THE DOWNFALL OF THE WCL (PART 11)

The WCFC Congress Table from left to right: Hernan Baeza (FELATRABS), Necie Lucero (ABCW), Jaap Kos (President), Eduardo Garcia (Deputy Secretary General CLAT), Piet Nelissen (executive secretary), Ivo Psenner (EO/WFCW) and Horacio Mujica (FETRALCOS)

On September 21 in the year 1992 I went along with secretary – assistant Chris Lenaerts by train to Amsterdam where we flew to Santiago de Chile, towards a new experience and challenge. It was not a large World Congress . The WFCW had no regional organization in Africa . At this conference a start was made with the foundation of an African organization. Koffi Zounnadjala of CSTT in Togo promised that in collaboration with the WCL regional organization DOWTAU and the African training center Fopadesc he would organize the Panafrican Federation of Employees. Under the leadership of president Necie Lucero from the Philippines and supported by the WFCW Secretariat together with CNV Aktie Kom Over the Asian Brotherhood of Clerical Workers ABCW had been founded. In Latin America the WFCW did have two regional organizations: FETRALCOS for workers in the informal economy and trade sector with Secretary General Maritza Chireno and FELATRABS for employees in the banking and insurance sector with the Presidency of Hernan Baeza .

The EO/WOW board in Zürich, Swiss (August 27, 1992) from left to right: Jaap Kos (President WFCW), Richard Paiha (FCG-GPA Secretary general), Charles Steck (treasurer EO/WFCW and WFCW), Ivo Psenner (President EO/WFCW) and Piet Nelissen (Executive Secretary WFCW and EO/WFCW)

The European regional organization EO/WFCW was the best organized because it had sufficient resources and a well functioning board with the Austrian President Ivo Psenner of Vorarlberg. Ivo personally went to great lengths to keep the WFCW together and if possible to expand further. He had regular consultations with German speaking unions in of course Germany, but also in Switzerland, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein and the German speaking part of northern Italy. It was difficult to get new members in Western Europe, that also could strengthen the financial backbone of the WFCW.

The organizational preparations for the congress had been difficult. The final administrative settlement with the hotel was a disaster. There were no clear agreements made. The hotel had made a mess from the administration. With the necessary improvisation, repeated consultations with the hotel management about their accounts and checking of the participants and their obligations, we could close the financial affairs after a long night. You can safely say that on this first world congress hard lessons were learned.

View if the Congress Hall. In front Chris Lenarts from WCL and working as secretary/assitant to WFCW and EO/WFCW.

Politically speaking the future did not look very bright for the WFCW. For two European organizations this 27th World Congress was an immediately farewell to the WFCW, namely the Dutch Unie BLHP and the Belgian LBC-NKV, member of the Belgian Christian Trade Union Confederation ACV. That made the departure of the last one extra bitter because the ACV was one of the main pillars of the WCL. The departure of one of the largest unions of the ACV made indirectly the support of the confederation ACV for WCL smaller.

"As promised in Turkey, I let you become below in my personal capacity some concerns about the future of the WFCW, which in my view, is closely linked to the future of the WCL," wrote Lucien Stragier, general secretary of the LBC-NKV on May 21 1991 in a letter to WFCW chairman Jaap Kos and EO/ WFCW President Ivo Psenner. In his letter, Stragier writes the following: "I feel that we are experiencing the same problem as the WCL. On the one hand the WFCW is NOT ready to go to FIET and defend within FIET its own values. On the other hand, we are too small to have any real significance on the world stage. Only a further expansion in the continents outside Europe may contradict this statement. Question is of course, whether it is in the interest of trade unionism to have opposing organizations or organizations that seek maximum cooperation. The WCL is struggling with the same problem but some people do not even see the problem. Yet even the WCL will have to choose between an inglorious downfall or a redefinition of its mission but then in proportion to its size and resources. "

In his letter Stragier wrote that the EO / WFCW is not a representative union and that recruitment opportunities for new members are limited. According to him, there is nothing more to recruit in Western Europe. He does not have confidence in the possibilities for EO/WFCW in Eastern Europe: "In Eastern Europe, everything is so vague and one can wonder whether in these countries they ever will and want to convert the present Christian ideology into own international structures. So I think that the EO / WFCW as a trade union is doomed. However, I would still support any suggestion that aims to survive and thus to prove the opposite. "

The rest of the letter is devoted to the proposal to transform WFCW and EO / WFCW into a foundation. "If we say that the WFCW is not ripe for a merger and therefore wants to continue, this is only important for the other continents rather than for Europe. Europe, however, is important for the other continents. There must be a bond with Europe and I think that the modest EO / WFCW therefore is far too small. So we should find something at European level but NOT as a trade union. Not as a union, because this is prohibited in the FIET-construction. (despite all the arguments here, but facts are facts). "

I'm sorry to say this but the analysis of Stragier is quite confusing. The WFCW and EO / WFCW were and are indeed small in the amount of members compared to the FIET as the WCL also was small compared to the ICFTU. Internationally WFCW and WCL are a minority, but a minority with its own views, its own values, its own vision of man and society, different from FIET and the ICFTU. If this would not be the case anymore, a merger is obvious. Unfortunately Stragier writes nothing about this subject.

A minority indeed can not use power politics but is that bad? A minority must use its persuasiveness, its commitment, its diplomacy, creativity and dynamism. History shows that despite their political power limitations, minorities are able to get their rights. Secondly. Why would after decades of communist dictatorship, trade unions in Eastern Europe not want to join a trade unions with Christian roots? After all the Eastern and Central European countries have the same ancient Christian roots as Western Europe. Thirdly, it is disappointing that Stragier bows his head to the Leninist principle that like-minded members of the FIET may not have their own circles of consultation and cooperation.

Trade union pluralism is not mentioned in the letter of Stragier. Instead, he talks about "opposing organizations" that would make cooperation impossible. But in national and international politics opposing organizations many times work together indeed. Why should that not be possible in the (international) trade union movement? WFCW and WCL have always declared its willingness to cooperate with other international trade unions, also with FIET and ICFTU.

Sjef Houthuys speaks in this YouTube film about trade union pluralism in Belgium. it is unfortunate but it is only available in the Dutch language. 

Former president ACV Jef Houthuys (preident of ACV from 1969 until 1987) said in an interview in1976 that trade union pluralism is still a necessity for the trade union movement. "I believe that the workers in our country are well off with the trade union situation as we know it. That means trade union pluralism and therefore if it is possible, collaboration between trade unions. We see here in the first place that there is a need for two different unions because of two different conceptions of man, labor, society and so on. Secondly, I believe that cooperation does not make impossible for each one to have its own principles and doctrinal statements for the great vision and a program in the long run.I believe this is rather a advantage. "

I met Jef Houthuys for the first time in 1975 during his visit to Mexico together with Henry Molina of CLAT. This picture was taken during a tourist visit to the pyramids of Teotihuacan near Mexico City. Far right with camera is Jef Houthuys. He was very interested in the living conditions of the Mexican workers. Second from left is Henry Molina. In the middle my wife Diny together with two friends Eric (far left) and Greet from Belgium.

to be continued

The above story is a personal testimony of what happened at the end of the last century and the beginning of the new millennium in the international trade union movement, in particular in the WCL and CLAT.

THE DOWNFALL OF THE WCL (part 10)

De Belgian ACV Industrial Workers Union delegation. On the right in front Leon van Haudt. Next to him Michel André. Behind Leon sits President  Leo Dusoleil  with next to him Karel the translator.

Back to Sao Paulo. The aim of the seminar was to exchange experiences between European and Latin American unions and to strengthen solidarity. The hot topics of the seminar were of course liberalization (free market) and privatization. After the fall of communism, capitalism was the only remaining social-economic model on world level. Thanks to the former U.S. President Ronald Reagan and the former English Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher the so-called neo-liberal model was introduced worldwide as the only model for social-economic development.

During the seminar a semi-final match for the European Championship was held between Holland and Denmark. The Brazilian paper Sao Paulo combined in an article seminar with sports (23 of June 1992). After 2-2 the match was decided by penalties. Denmark won.

Our Latin American friends feared and hated this model. Capitalism had never worked out well on their continent. In Europe it was different. Since World War II capitalism had been transformed and became the foundation for the welfare state. Thanks to the European social dialogue, Europeans looked therefore to the neoliberal model on a more pragmatic way. On the contrary, our Latin American friends saw the neoliberal model as a new attempt by the U.S. to expand its economic power in Latin America. It was considered a new threat to their already weak position compared to the position of employers and politicians.

Our Brazilian friends organized a grand closing ceremony of the seminar together with one of the large metal unions of the region.

For European trade unions neoliberalism was a new challenge that they could face with a certain confidence, because in their own country and in the European Union trade unions are considered as serious social dialogue partners of employers and politicians. The Latin American unions didn't have confidence in politicians or employers because they don't hesitate to use repression against trade unions or at least to put them aside. Latin American unions distrust therefore any social dialogue. They see it as a trap with the aim to reduce their influence and resistance.

While I was in Sao Paulo, General Secretary Maritza Chireno of the Latin American Federation of Trade and Services FETRALCOS, held a seminar in a union training center on the coast. She had invited me to visit the seminar so she could introduce me as the new Executive Secretary of the WFCW, to which FETRALCOS belongs as a regional member. I felt honored by the invitation. Besides I wanted to share with her some of my preocupations regarding the upcoming World Congress (September) of WFCW in Chile.

Until then I had no communication with Hernan Baeza, president of the Union of workers at the National Bank and responsible for the organization of the World Congress. With less than three months to go, I had not received any information on the reservation of the hotel, the arrangements and the costs, the congress hall, the translation system with its booths etc. This was my first World Congress so because of this lack of information I became 

very nervous.

Visit of one of the slums in Santiago de Chile with Hugo Flores, President of the Association of slum dwellers Solidardidad (left). On the right Gerrit Pruim, secretary general of CNV Aktie Kom Over. (Jnue 1991)

On a previous visit to Chile, as an advisor of the CNV Aktie Kom Over (June 1991) together with secretary general Gerrit Pruim, I had met Hernan Baeza in his office at the bank. Following talks with leaders of slum organizations in Santiago, I proposed him to ensure together with his union that the slumdwellers could open a savings acount despite their low and irregular income. This would allow them to save for the purchase of the land on which their houses stood. Of course, they also should become the legal owners of their land. From our meetings with the slum dwellers we had learned that the legal uncertainty about the property of land and their house makes it difficult for them to get out of poverty. At the end of our conversation I had to conclude that Baeza was not interested in our proposals.

I assured Maritza that if I did not get the guarantee that the necessary preparations for the World Congress in Chile were not taken, I would propose the WFCW board with urgency to held the WFIW worldcongress in Europe. Maritza shared my concerns. She would discuss it urgently with CLAT. After all, as one of the founders of FETRALCOS Deputy Secretary General Eduardo Garcia was Honorary President of FETRALCOS. That would certainly help, as we thought and it did. The Congress was held in Chile.

In the middle Jan Dereymaekr of ACV Belgium, On his left side Amrita Sietaram of CNV Netherlands. On the end of the same row Guy Drillaud of CFTC French. In front the translator of LWU. The woman between Jan and Guy is also a translator.

Just before the WFCW World Congress (11 to 13 September), the Lithuanian LWU held its regular congress in Vilnius. There were indications that at the congress the decision would be taken to join the WCL. A reason to be present at the congress with a large delegation: Amrita Sietaram (CNV, Netherlands), Jan Dereymaeker (ACV, Belgium), Guy Drillaud (CFTC, France) and myself. Guy was there because his predecessor, CFTC Secretary General Jean Bornard had made the first contacts with LWU president Aldona Balsienne. Jean had even ensured that Aldona as a guest could be present at the meeting of the European section on the 17th of March in Brussels.

On the left Aldona Balsienne, President of the LWU. On the right Jean Bornard, Secretary Genral of the CFTC.

For reasons I don't remember but to our great disappointment the decision on joining the WCL was postponed . I had already been surprised that the ICFTU had been invited to the conference. I considered it as a not so good sign. I believed that the good contacts between LWU and the Polish Solidarnosc I had experienced during our mission led by Krisztoff Dowgiałło, would be of importance for the choice of LWU. We also had supported the LWU as much as possible , politically and financially. Of course, the WCL had limited financial resources, but I assumed that not only money plays a role in the decision on international membership or is this too idealistic ? If so, then so it will be. The WCL does not benefit from members who are only interested in money. And in case money was needed, we could find it always. A matter of faith in the good cause .

To be continued


The above story is a personal testimony of what happened at the end of the last century and the beginning of the new millennium in the international trade union movement, in particular in the WCL and CLAT.

THE DOWNFALL OF THE WCL (part 9)

Breakfast of the delegation of CNV Industry Union delegation with board members of the union of the Paraguay Sugar Factory. At the head of the tabel Pedro Parra of the CNT. On the right of Parra sits coming President Doekle Terpstra. On the left of Parra the outgoing President Frits Hanko. Next to him Treasurer Wim van der Jagt. 

As Dutch delegation we were told that the Dutch Honorary Consul Juan Bosch in Paraguay made life of the union in its sugar factory very difficult. So we went there to have a look. Wim van der Jagt, one of the members of our group, wrote about that visit in the Dutch magazine Latin America, a publication of the solidarity association CLAT Netherlands (number 4, 1992).

"Thursday, June 18. After a journey of nearly two hours we arrived at the sugar factory 'Azucarera Paraguay SA' . First we had a meeting with the board of the trade union there. We spoke to one of the two fired leaders of the trade union. He told us that he had received his salary till the end of 1991 by the CNT. We promised him on the spot that our union will pay his wages for the whole year 1992. Furthermore, we gave extra money for his union. Moreover, we have made ​​an agreement for 'adoption' of the union, so they always can turn to us for material of immaterial support. We hope by this way to force the management of the sugar factory to take serious the union. Mr. Bosch (Honorary Consul of the Netherlands in Paraguay and also one of the owners of the sugar factory), who was aware of our arrival, had agreed the day before our arrival the first collective agreement ever in his company. That would not have happened if we had not been there! "

The delegation then went with great interest of bystanders in procession to the factory. There was held a meeting with Bosch. "First Mr. Bosch criticized Jaap Kos, president of the Dienstenbond CNV, who in 1991 had brought in publicity the company. By the way Kos was at that time not permitted to visit the factory. Bosch spoke into detail on the relationship of the company with the employees. Actually, according to him, a collective agreement is completely unnecessary ..... The company was founded in 1905 and you could see it well. The little good that the company has done is donating 80 pieces of land and providing interest-free loans so that people could build their own homes. When we told him that we had adopted the union in his company, Bosch was shocked visibly! "

Upon return, the CNV Industry Union wrote an official letter to the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs about Bosch, requesting to point out Juan Bosch on its obligations and if necessary to take measures so he could not be any longer Dutch Honorary Consul.

The participants of the WFIW Seminar in Sao Paulo. Standing on the right on his feet Laerte Texeira da Costa. 

He is currently Secretary for Social Policies at the Trade Union Confederation of the Americas TUCA, Central Autonomous Workers - Member of CAT en CDES - Presidency of the Republic. To his right Carlos Gaitan,at that time Secretary General of FLATI. Next to him Leo Dusoleil, President of the WFIW and President of the ACV Industry Union. To his right  Michel André and Leo van Haut, both members of the board of ACV Industry Union.Sitting in the centre of the group is Frits Hanko, President of the CNV Industry Union. Behind him Siegfried Ehret, President of the German CGM. Behind André Michel is Reinhart Schiller who succeeded Siegfried Ehret as President of CGM.

We went to Sao Paulo, Brazil where during the last week of June 1992 the WFIW seminar was held. Meanwhile also delegations had arrived from Belgium ACV Industry and the German Christian Metal Union CGM. From Latin America trade unionists took part from host country Brazil, from Argentina and Paraguay. The Argentinian Carlos Gaitan, Secretary General  of the Latin American Federation of Industry Workers FLATI, was responsible for the organisation and coordination of the seminar.

It was my first acquaintance with members of the board of the German CGM led by Chairman Siegfried Ehret. It would become the beginning of what I would call the German affair in the WCL. While CGM was a member of the World Federation of Industrial Workers WFIW and the German BranchUnion DHV member of World Federation of Clerical Workers WFCW, their confederation, the Christian Trade Union Federation of Germany CGB, was not affiliated to the WCL. One of the reasons that was buzzing around within and outside the WCL, was that members of the German Christian trade union would have a Nazi past.

Before judging I decided to see for myself what was really going on. That was not difficult. CGM chairman Siegfried Ehret invited me after some time for a visit to his organization and to meet his boardmembers. I had a frank discussion with them. I learned to know also other active members of the DHV during WFIW branche meetings and the yearly seminar for the German-speaking members of the WFIW.

Through the European Christian Miners Federation I learned to know old and new leaders of the German Christian Miners Union. The board meetings of the European Federation were held in the border region of Germany, France and Belgium. If there is one area that you could call European, it is the region that stretches from the French Alsace and Lorraine with cities like Metz and Strassbourg and the neighboring German Saarland with the city of Saarbrücken to Flemish Limburg with the city of Hasselt. Thanks to the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community after World War II, the predecessor of the European Union, the miners were the first branch to be involved in the European social dialogue. Their mutual European cooperation stemmed from the obvious camaraderie that exists between miners.

It became clear to me that the rumors were completely inaccurate. Presumably they were purposely spread by circles around the German trade union IGMetall. This giant among European trade unions with millions of members conducts a war of attrition through long standing legal procedures against the CGM, that with its several hundred thousand members plays a modest role in major German car companies like Audi, BMW, Volkswagen and Porsche in Bavaria, the largest state of the Federal Republic of Germany.

It is purely a political power struggle, a union unworthy. Since 1957, the Government of the economically dynamic and rich Bavaria is in hands of the Christian Social Union CSU. The last state elections (15 September) has been won by the CSU with an absolute majority. Maybe IG Metall fears that this strong position of the CSU eventually can affect its dominant position? Anyway, instead to cooperate with the CGM for collective agreements, IG Metall prefers to make war. A deplorable mentality for a union that claims solidarity and democracy as its core values. This is not a good sign of a union from a country that let bleed Europe and even the world during World War II owing to its democratic failures.

The CNV delegation during the WCL European Section meeting on the 7th of March 1992 when Henk Hofstede was still President of CNV. In the foreground  WCL treasurer Eelke Jongsma, President of the CNV Transport Union.Anton Westerlaken looks into the camera lens. On his left CNV President Henk Hofstede. On his right Jan Jacob van Dijk for European policy.

So there was no reason that the CGB should not become a member of the WCL. Moreover, because of its budget constraints, the WCL could use well the extra contribution. I suggested CGB Chairman Peter Konstroefer, who I met during a meeting in Saarland, to talk with CNV chairman Anton Westerlaken who was also Vice-President of the WCL. At his request a meeting was foreseen on March 8, 1993 in Oisterwijk in the Netherlands instead of Brussels, that I had proposed. Unfortunately Anton Westerlaken appeared over an hour late for the appointment. That's been a bad omen. The meeting did not get any follow up and then the CGB has never joined the WCL.

I can only guess the reason for this state of affairs. IGMetall will certainly have put pressure on the Belgian ACV Metal Union and the Dutch CNV Industry Union . Both unions were already some time member of the European Metalworkers' Federation, of which IGMetall is one of the main members. The accusations on the CGM were made by some leaders of these unions as well as negative comments on CLAT in Latin America and also the WFIW. Add to this the possible pressure of the mighty German DGB trade union confederation through the ETUC into the direction of CNV and ACV. Anyway, this state of affairs made clear that the much needed expansion of the WCL without permission from major European Trade Unions was not possible unless ACV and CNV were willing to take heavy risks.

To be continued.

The above story is a personal testimony of what happened at the end of the last century and the beginning of the new millennium in the international trade union movement, in particular in CLAT and the WCL.

"TRADE UNION PLURALISM, REALITY OR DREAM?"

All participants in the seminar on the photo.

Is Trade Union pluralism just a dream or is it reality in the trade union world? Particpants from many different countries of Europe debated on this question based on analysis of the reality in their countries during the seminar “Trade Union pluralism, reality or a dream”, held last week in Berlin, Germany (25-26 September 2013). The seminar was organized by the Danish trade union confederation KRIFA and the European Centre for Workers' Questions EZA in cooperation with the European Organization of the World Organization of Workers (EO/WOW) and financially supported by the European Commission.

Guenther Trausnitz, EO/WOW President and FCG GPA secretary general, was one of the speakers at the opening of the seminar. The others were WOW board member Adelbert Ewen and Matthias Homey of EZA.

During the workshop the participants exchanged experiences on trade union pluralism in their country. You will be surprised to hear that in a country like Germany the trade union of metalworkers, the biggest, the richest and most powerfull union IGM uses courts to harass and make life difficult to the Christian Metal Workers trade union CGM. The result is that CGM had to use a big part of its membership contributions for paying the costs of these legal proceedings. The IGM accused the CGM not being a real trade union. In Gemany this is a legal question. Without being recognized as a real trade union one cannot sign collective agreements and without collective agreements a trade union risks to lose its reason to exist.

Ms.Isabella Biletta from EUROFOND started the seminar with a bird-eye view on " 'Trade Union Pluralism on European level".

More or less the same happened in Spain, another memberstate of the European Union. For 12 years it was impossible for the Spanish CIC (Confederacion Intersindical de Cajas) to sign collective agreements because the two big Confederations UGT (General Union of Workers) and CCOO (Workers Committees) did not accept the CIC as a partner, while the CIC had enough votes of the workers for being a legal negotiating partner. I was told that the presidency of the European Trade Union Confederation ETUC nowadays is in hands of a member of CCOO (you cannot find confirmation on the ETUC website).

Ms. Anne Kiesow from the Christian Metal Trade Union CGM spoke on "Trade Union Pluralism in Germany".

Even worse is the situation in Denmark. Some time ago about 200 workers of the dominant Confederation LO went on strike in a Carlsberg brewery as a collective protest against one of their collegues because he had chosen to be a member of the Danish Christian trade union confederation KRIFA. Carlsberg fired the worker because it did not want to have problems with LO. In trade union history this is called “deprivation of livelihood”. To make it impossible for trade unions to become active in their company, employers fired workers who were members of a trade union. So today there are unions who use the same weapon against workers who belong to an other union just because they are afraid losing their dominance instead of looking for ways to work together for the benefit of all employees in the company. This is not the only case. It's happened many times before. I wonder what these Carlsberg workers would do if in Denmark only one brand of beer – not Carlsberg – could be sold?

Mr. Wolfgang Pischinger, President of FCG GPA and WOW Board member, spoke about "Pluralism in the Austrian Trade Union work.

However, the worst cases we got from Ukraina from our friends of VOST. In Ukraina the transition to democracy and an open market economy has been slowed down by post-communist forces with the result that Government and employers - many times so-called oligarchs – cooperate together with the aim to create confusion. Employers create their own company unions (so called yellow unions) with our without the help of people from outside the company. The Government recognizes trade unions that exists only on paper. Workers have to become member of the union if they want to keep their job. This is the dark side of pluralism that should be attacked by all democratic forces in Ukraina.

Ms.Dragana Petkovic-Gajic, PhD Political Sciences and Project Manager Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions of Serbia -CATUS, spoke about "What consequences does Trade Union Pluralism have? Positive and negative aspects of pluralism in South-Eastern Europe.

Another case is Serbia where Western European Banks are buying local banks but do not respect the trade union rights. President Marja Erdelj of the Serbian Union BOFOS informed that for example the French Bank Credit Agricole forced its employees to sign a letter in which they promise not to become a member of a trade union. She hopes to reestablish the rights of the employees during a meeting to which she has been invited by the Management.

Mr. Piet Hazenbosch, Adviser to the board of the Dutch confederation CNV, spoke about "The Dutch case of trade union pluralism".

Fortunately, there are also countries where trade union pluralism has been accepted by all trade unions and where it works reasonably well as for example in Austria, the Netherlands, Cyprus, Malta and post-communist Lithuania. Netherlands has an already long history of trade union pluralism consisting of a social-democratic, christian and liberal-conservative confederation and some national branch unions. Until World War II there was also a Catholic oriented confederation which merged with the social-democratic confederation in the seventies of the past century. All confederations participate in the national social dialogue and all unions are involved in collective agreements.

Mr.Mattheus Homey of EZA spoke on "The importance of Trade Union pluralism from the perspective of EZA".

In Austria, after World War II the Allied Forces together with the forces of Russia forced the trade unions to become one unified confederation called the Austrian Trade Union Confederation ÖGB. Within the ÖGB there are different fractions. The 2 most important fractions are the Socialist fraction FSG ÖGB and the Christian Fraction FCG ÖGB. This system of fractions exists also in the seven branche unions of the ÖGB. In most of these branche unions the Socialist fraction has the majority. In the Branch Trade Union for Private Employed and Print, Journalists and Paper GPA the Christian fraction is a significant minority. In the public services union GÖD, the Christian fraction has the majority.

Mr. Soren Fibiger Olesen, President of KRIFA Denmark, presented his topic " I have a dream that one day all unions can work together to promote the interest of the workers!" 

The seminar topic was introduced by Md. Isabella Biletta, Research Manager of EUROFOND, a tri-partite European Union Agency, that provides knowledge to assist in the development of social and work-related policies. One of the tasks of EUROFOND was to establish criteria for the selection of representative trade unions that could participate in the branch social dialogue commissions of the European Union. She presented also the results of a long term research project that shows that trade union membership continues declining with exceptions in some countries like for example Belgium. It seems that the trade unions don't have yet the right answers to this loss of members. Can it be that the trade unions have become more of an institution than of a social movement? 

The presentation of the results of the working groups. From left to right: Adalbert Ewen (President CMG Germany) as the president of the day, Jolien Dekker from CNV Dienstenbond, Henning Röders from DVV Germany and Jelena Soms from LWU Lithuania.

The participants agreed with the proposal to send a letter to the European Social Economic Committee EESC in which the right of trade union pluralism will be formulated as a fundamental workers right. Workers should have a choice between trade unions free of any discrimination to them as well the trade union to which they belong. In the letter also the cases of the violation of this right on trade union pluralism will be mentioned. The letter will therefore include the cases of violations of trade union pluralism as cited above.

THE DOWNFALL OF THE WCL (part 8)

Under this picture in my scrapbook I wrote "A visit to the headquarters of CMOT Moscow where was also present CMOT Petersburg. There was in that apartment a kind of a brooding, conspiratorial atmosphere. CMOT Moscow and Petersburg seemed a hodgepodge from which you could make neither head nor tail and had little to do with unions.” The photo of Marilyn Monroe on the wall together with a framed picture of some major Russian person gave me the feeling of being lost in time and place. On the right side of the photo Krisztoff Dowgiallo, vice-president of WCL and head of our delegation.The 2 on the left are from CMOT Moscow.(photo Petrus)

We visited a group of CMOT in one of those typical apartment blocks in the suburbs of Moscow. The conversation was disappointing. Maybe they were courageous dissidents but they had little or no contact with real trade unions. Back in our hotel we also spoke to Matvienko of CMOT in Minsk, Belarus. 3 years later I organized a mission to Belarus together with the ICFTU, but that's a different story. We also met Massalowitsj, one of the leaders of miners in Vorkuta. He insisted that we would immediately travel to Vorkuta, about 2000 kilometers north of Moscow and 150 kilometer above the Arctic Circle. He told us that there were thousands of miners on strike for months because they had not received wages any more. The non-payment of wages would become a growing problem in Russia over the next years. Sometimes workers had to survive months without any payments. The trip to Vorkuta, we did not make. Subsequent attempts afterwards to get in contact with him unfortunately failed.

A picture of the WCL delegates Amrita Sietaram and myself (in the centre) together with Vorkuta miners' representative  Massalovitsj (third from right) on the Red Square.  First on the right side is the leader of the new party who wanted to introduce in Russia the politics of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The others were from some other unions.(photo Petrus) 

The history of the striking miners in Vorkuta is the story of  Russian Communism in a nutshell. In the '30s of the last century in Vorkuta was built one of the largest prison camps of the Gulag Archipelago. The occasion was the discovery of coal stocks. Thousands of forced laborers, including many supporters of the famous communist Trotsky (murdered in Mexico City), had to work under extremely difficult conditions in mines and build roads. In 1953, shortly after Stalin's death, for the third time a rebellion among the forced laborers broke out. The uprising was beaten down by the Red Army and the security forces. Thousands of them were executed without any kind of trial. In the time of Nikita Khrushchev some Gulag camps were closed. After the fall of the Soviet Union, many coal mines were closed because they were not profitable anymore.

An Orthodox priest also Member of Parliament, his name I can not remember, had organized a press conference in the Parliament building. After we had presented our delegation and had held a brief introduction about the WCL, one could ask questions. But how do you explain what a civil society is to people who are only familiar with state, party and government institutions? How do you explain people who have never experienced free elections what are free and independent trade unions. How do you explain what is a social dialogue, collective bargaining and collective agreements in a country without employers except the state?

We organized meetings in a corner of the hotel. Here you see on the right side of the picture Christophe Jussac from the French Confederation CFDT who speaks russian.In the centre of the picture you see Matvienko from CMOT Belarus. On his right side Alexandre Ivanchenko from the Ukrainian VOST confederation. Left from him Amrita Sietaram from CNV Netherlands. You see the backside of our translator Alexandre Volkov.(photo Petrus)

We were invited by some members of a new democratic party to eat at home of the leader of the party. A disconcerting experience. There was no beginning of any party structure. His political manifesto was overwhelmingly simple: apply the policy of the British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in Russia. How great the confusion was turned out during a meeting with a group of men of which we were told that they wanted to cooperate with the international trade union movement. However, after some time we discovered that we were talking with businessmen who thought that we as Western trade unions could help them to do international business. We left the building as soon as possible leaving behind the Russian businessmen even more confused than before.

In our relatively expensive hotel it was a corrupt mess. I could only make an international call after giving a big US dollar tip to the operator. Breakfast was not there unless you gave a big mouth to the waiters or gave some extra US dollars. In and outside the elevator I was constantly harassed by prostitutes. In the hall a driver was beaten by a dozen of other drivers because he did not adhere to their code, as explained our translator. We were glad we could leave. We realized that the free and democratic trade union movement in Russia had to go a quite long way.

As regular readers know, I was not only confederal secretary of the WCL but also executive secretary of some International Trade Federations: the World Federation of Clerical Workers (WFCW) and the World Federation of Industrial Workers (WFIW). WFCW chairman Jaap Kos I learned to know during a kind of job interview at the headquarters of the Dienstenbond CNV in Amsterdam. Ivo Psenner, President of the European Organization of WFCW and Richard Paiha, secretary of the Christian Group in the Austrian GPA in Vienna, were present during this interview. WFIW Chairman Leo Dusoleil, also chairman of ACV Industry, I learned to know very well during our tour along the trade federations of Solidarnosc (The Downfall of the WCL, part 4)

From left to right: Doekle Terpstra, the new president of the Dutch trade federation Industry and Food IVB member of the confederation CNV. Wim van de Jagt, the treasurer of the trade union. Frits Hanko the leaving president of the same union. In the background you see some metal workers in one of the factories we were visiting during our stay in Paraguay.

The WFIW had organized together with FLATI, the regional organization of the WFIW in Latin America, a seminar in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Prior to the seminar, I traveled as an interpreter and expert of Latin America along with a delegation of the Dutch CNV Industry and Food Union to Paraguay. We visited the confederation CNT, member of WCL and CLAT. Pedro Parra of the CNT Board was our guide during our visit to a farmers' union, a metal factory, a sugar factory, a judge of the Supreme Court, the Bishop of Asuncion, slum dwellers, the newspaper ABC, a radio station and the Minister of Justice.

You can't miss it. In the centre of the picture you see Paraguayan Dictator General Alfredo Stroessner enjoying his birthday party on the 3 of november 1987. Behind him in white military uniforms his loyal generals. (photo Petrus)

Three years after the fall of dictator General Alfredo Stroessner (in 1989 Stroessner was overthrown by another general) there was not much changed in the country. Of course, that was not possible in such a short period. Stroessner had been in power for 35 years (1954-1989) thanks to his generals, the Colorado Party and years of U.S. support. It was the longest dictatorship of an individual ruler in Latin America and the world's longest-serving non-Communist head of state. During a visit to Paraguay in 1987, because of the One Day Wage Campaign of CLAT Netherlands ( Campaña Un Dia de Salario), I had been invited along with a TV team from the Netherlands at the birthday party of the dictator. With our own eyes we could see a Latin American dictator according to the known cliches: he himself surrounded by generals in immaculate white uniforms full of medals, a court of faithful authorities who benefited from his dictatorship, singers and poets who sang for him and children handing over bouquets of flowers.

At that time the unions had to work semi-clandestinely. Their leaders were arrested constantly like politicians such as Domingo Laino, a leader of the liberal opposition against the dictator. It was a country with the silence of a graveyard. Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay, was no bigger than a provincial city with little activity while most of the population lived in poverty in rural areas. The difference now is that the trade unions can do their work openly without being threatened to be prosecuted or imprisoned immediately. Paraguay has come back to life, thanks to the work of trade unions, the Catholic Church and other social organizations but far enthusiasm and time will be needed before the pernicious legacy of Stroessner will have disappeared to make way for new economic and political dynamics that will bring progress and prosperity.

Te be continued


The above story is a personal testimony of what happened at the end of the last century and the beginning of the new millennium in the international trade union movement, in particular in CLAT and the WCL.

THE DOWNFALL OF THE WCL (part 7)

I took this picture in March 1992 in one of the streets of the historical centre of Vilnius. As you can see the houses are completely neglected. The same you could see in other cities like for example Budapest, Bucarest, Sofia and others. I believe this is due to the Marxist arrogance to history and as a consequence to historic buildings. Communists believed that when they came to power, real history had started. A misconception that is also known of the French Revolution and much later of the Cuban revolution.

During my visits to Central and Eastern Europe, I gradually discovered that no communist regime had been able to provide decent shelter to its people. By Western standards or should I say capitalist standards, the huge and ugly buildings in the suburbs of the cities are people unworthy. They have been build without enough space in between, there are often no trees or lawns around. The vast, dimly lit hallways of apartment buildings resemble those of a prison. Everywhere you see peeling paint and makeshift repairs of rusting pipes. You can not control the temperature of the central heating system of one apartment, let alone of one room. It is on or off. If you find it too hot, you should open a window, whereby precious fired heat flies out the window. This is a sheer waste of energy.

Our first flat tire on the road from Vilnius to Riga. The highway between the 2 capitals was still empty. On the right Amrita Sietaram of CNV, in the middle the driver and on the left Kristoff Dowgiallo, vice-president of WCL.

We left Vilnius in the Moskwa to Riga, capital of Latvia. Between Vilnius and Riga lies a large, modern highway of about 300 kilometers. The motorway was as good as deserted. The first flat tire could still be easily changed thanks to a spare tire. At the 2nd flat tire, there was nothing else we could do than to repair it ourselves. It proved to be a primitive form of vulcanization with gasoline from the tank of the car to heat the mess. The third flat tire, there was nothing else to do than to look for a farm at the roadside. We were well received and helped.

Meanwhile Kristoff had explained to me the principles of the Communist industrial production of cars. First comes the army. Since the army always has enough money, costs do not matter. The Moskwa was built as a military vehicle and only then adapted for civilian traffic. Therefore it is a heavy car with thick metal plates that slurps to much gasoline and moves like a tank.

The second flat tire we had on the border between Lithuania and Latvia. On the right Kristoff, in the middle Daiva of the LWU and next to her myself.

Ford's invention of efficient, inexpensive and yet useful people's car (T-Ford) had remained nearly unknown in Russia. Of course, Western car models were copied, with or without help from the West, like for example Fiat in Russia (Lada) and Renault (Dacia) in Romania. But if you copy something that does not mean you understand completely why it is made that way. This requires insight and especially a lot of experience. The same principle also applies for democracy. You can copy it with candidates, parties and elections, but that does not mean that it works.

Democracy is a political lifestyle, requires mutual trust and tolerance, willingness to compromise, experience with working in coalition etc. It takes many years to develop this in a society. This means that a lot of patience is needed with the development in former communist Europe and Russia. The question is whether the coming decades the citizens of East and West will have enough patience with the transformation of their societies. For example in financial terms, expenses for the reunification of East and West Germany (1990) were about 75 billion Euro a year for more then 10 years. Until the present day Eastern Germany depends on funding from West Germany.

Over the years I saw that working conditions in former Communist countries were just as bad as most of the products. The factories were dangerous, very poorly lit with very unsafe and unhealthy working conditions. The word Medieval often came to my mind when I visited another hopelessly outdated factory, even though there were in the Middle Ages, of course, no factories. During such visits I was often asked if I could find investors so that the factory could remain and the workers keep their jobs. I had to disappoint them. Their products could never compete with Western products, not technologically nor with prices. The result was that over time many factories in the former communist countries were closed, resulting in a growing number of unemployed.

When we had a flat tire for the third time we needed the help of a farmer along the road.

By evening we arrived in Riga. We had been on the road all day long. Later in the evening we had a meeting with some union leaders in a caravan converted into a coffeehouse. We exchanged names and addresses and promised once again in Brussels to contact with proposals for further cooperation. That was our first and only contact we ever had in Latvia. Besides, also the LWU never joined the WCL, despite the good contacts with the help of Solidarnosc and Kristoff Dowgiallo. A few months later I would meet the president of a more Christian-oriented Lithuanian confederation at a seminar in Budapest, that became a member of the WCL.

The next morning we left for Moscow with a full schedule of appointments with new leaders and a member of parliament. I already knew Moscow from a visit as a student with a group of students of political science in the year 1969. At that time many students saw communism as a humane alternative to capitalism, not to mention imperialism. It were indeed the sixties of the student protests against the Vietnam War, for democratization of universities, sexual liberation, faith in the Cuban revolution and the so-called revolutionary liberation movements in Latin America, the Chinese cultural revolution etc.

In 1969, during our visit to Moscow we students  joked with a statue of Lenin in front of the House of the Union of Writers.

It was therefore hilarious to discover that communism meant in practice an old-fashioned conservative dictatorship without freedom of speech, no freedom of association, no right to strike or holding a demonstration. We saw how a young Georgian was discriminated. We were not allowed in some restaurants because we had no jacket and tie. Our Russian colleagues whined about records of the Rolling Stones and the Beatles. Women asked even for nylons. Many students wanted to swap clothes with us, so fond they were of our jeans and denim jackets. The black rate of the Russian ruble was four times lower than the official rate.

So I was wondering what it would be now under President Boris Yeltsin. At least we could freely walk in and out the Kremlin, that dark center of power in the times of Communism. A strange sensation, like the many new (Western) cars, the shops with luxury Western products, the new cosy western style restaurants and of course the free and open conversations. However, we quickly discovered that after 70 years of communism, post communist Russia was in a supreme state of confusion. We spoke union leaders from giant Soviet Factories with thousands of workers who produce tractors, aircraft parts, etc. and accused each other fiercely of betrayal, lies, working with the secret service (KGB) or the worst of all, being still a communist.

To be continued

The above story is a personal testimony of what happened at the end of the last century and the beginning of the new millennium in the international trade union movement, in particular in CLAT and the WCL.

THE DOWNFALL OF THE WCL (part 6)

NKOS Secretary Pavel Matousek in his modest office in Prague (march 1992)

During the seminar in Sopot we were invited by the Lithuanian Workers' Union to visit Lithuania. Kristoff Dowgiałło had contacts with new Russian trade unions leaders we could visit in Moscow. We could also contact VOST chairman Olexander Ivanchenko from Ukraine as he had said in Sopot. Travelling by train from Kiev to Moscow was not expensive. Antony Meeuws, who volunteered for the WCL as a translator of Russian documents and letters, advised us to visit the so-called alternative union CMOT in Moscow that was already active under the Communist regime. Antony knew about CMOT and other dissidents from his volunteer work for Amnesty International. We planned to leave at the end of March; first to Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania and then to Moscow.

But first we went to the Europe Forum in Prague, organized by the ETUC. It was my first experience with the ETUC. I do not remember much of the meeting except that we stayed in a brand new and luxurious hotel (because of EU financing?). The role of the ETUC in former communist Europe was not yet clear because the future of Europe was still unclear. Of course, since the fall of communism in Europe, there was optimism but there was also a lot of uncertainty. The optimism was that it was now possible to establish free, democratic and independent trade unions in former Communist Europe and Russia and to support them as had happened with Solidarnosc. Probably in the near future Europe would become united within the European Union, but nobody had any idea how and when.

For the citizens of Central and Eastern Europe and Russia the downfall of the communist regimes brought not only freedom but also a lot of uncertainty. After 50 years of communist dictatorship (in Russia more than 70 years), few had any memory of what meant freedom or democracy. No one had experience anymore with the union as a free association of workers without any interference from the state, with its own democratic structure and its own program. Private enterprises were unknown. Nobody had experience with negotiating wages and other labor conditions. Even more difficult was the question what to do with your freedom and how to survive when the state does no longer take care of everything? Some dreamed of Western prosperity but had no idea how this could be realised. There existed also the not unreasonable fear that the Russians would try to recover their empire again after some time. For the new post-communist governments therefore the protective umbrellas of the U.S. and NATO were more important than creating a free market, privatise state enterprises or to get the membership of the European Union.

Within the ETUC all this stood not on the agenda. One was more concerned about the new grants from the European Union from the Phare Tacis program than to develop a political vision on the future of Europe. The Phare Tacis program of the EU was indeed meant to support projects for the development of democracy and free elections, a free market economy with private companies and to build and strengthen a civil society. Obviously the EU did have already some policy toward the former Communist countries, the ETUC did not.

Arrival of Amrita Sietaram from CNV (on the right) together with Daiva from the LWU ( on the left) and the driver of the Moskva, also a legacy from the old Communist trade union.(march 1992)

It was generally accepted that the WCL and the ICFTU would support the new founded trade unions as wel as the reformed post-communist trade unions. I was told by WCL secretary general Carlos Custer that both international organisations had agreed not to proceed immediately to the affiliation of these unions. They would get time to get acquainted with the international trade union environment. But according to Carlos this gentlemen's agreement had been violated already by the ICFTU, by affiliating the Bulgarian Confederation Podkrepa. Later on, Podkrepa President Konstatin Trenchev himself acknowledged that he would have preferred to become a member of the WCL but that the ICFTU had offered more financial support. Such practices should not occur in the trade union movement but often politics based on financial power wins from policy based on principles and values, a phenomenon as old as humanity itself.

My stay in Prague gave me the opportunity to meet Pavel Matousek and Alois Anton of the new Christian trade union federation NKOS. They had good contacts with the Christian trade union group FCG in Austria. NKOS was a nascent trade union: small and inexperienced. Maybe NKOS - with the support of the WCL – could become a confederation of national significance. However, its national future was uncertain because at the highest political level one was negotiating about the division of the country. Therefore, later that year we would submit a joint appeal not to split the country. But it was too late. On 1 January 1993, Czechoslovakia peacefully split into two countries: the Czech and Slovak Republics. From then on each Republic had its own Christian oriented confederation. Some years later it would penetrate the European consciousness that the liberation of Communism also had freed nationalist forces, which were difficult or nearly impossible to control as was demonstrated during the civil wars in Yugoslavia.

LWU President Aldona Balsiene talking seriously with WCL Vice-President Kristoff Dowgiallo (march 1992)

Immediately after the Prague stop I went with Kristoff Dowgiałło and Amrita Sietaram of CNV to Lithuania where we were received by the board of the LWU in their office in the former Culture Building of the official Communist Confederation, near the center of the capital Vilnius. The new democratic unions including the LWU had occupied this building. At that time in Lithuania people were very curious about everything that came from Western Europe so Amrita and I were asked to participate together with LWU President Aldona Balsiene in a TV forum.

Lithuania had a tragic liberation struggle. After a landslide victory in elections to the Supreme Soviet, members of the anti-communist independence party Sąjūdis proclaimed Lithuania's independence on 11 March 1990, becoming the first Soviet republic to do so. The Soviet Union attempted to suppress the secession by imposing an economic blockade. Soviet troops attacked the Vilnius TV Tower, killing 14 Lithuanian civilians and wounding 600 others on the night of 13 January 1991 (January Events). On 31 July 1991 Soviet paramilitaries killed seven Lithuanian border guards on the Belarusian border in what Became known as the Massacre Medininkai.

Strolling through Vilnius it occurred to me how strongly this ancient and venerable city was neglected during the Communist regime. Everywhere I looked were neglected houses although there were still people living in it. Later I saw the same neglect of old beautiful buildings in many other cities in former Communist countries such as Bucharest, the capital of Romania (where dictator Ceaucescu teared down entire neighborhoods to build his megalomaniac People's Palace) and Budapest the capital of Hungary (you could still see the bullet holes in the walls from the 1956 uprising).

To be continued

The above story is a personal testimony of what happened at the end of the last century and the beginning of the new millennium in the international trade union movement, in particular in CLAT and the WCL.